This wall on the left (see pic below) is going to have two rows of shelves on it that will come out about 18-20 inches and each row of shelves will have (3) Highway Patrol / Police lightbars on them, so I don't really need lighting over them. There will be a metal shelf behind me that will have my collection of dash lights and sirens.
I've considered a single shelf along that white wall with a light under it, but I haven't put that much thought into it because I've been working on other things. If I did any work in here it would be along that white wall, and it would be more hobby stuff.
This biggest reason I built this cabinet was for storage, not for a work bench. I don't have much storage space in my house.
I'm tempted to hook up one of the 8' lights to see how well it lights up this room before I install it in the shop.
View attachment 136955
A few thoughts:
I’m a fan of the recessed can lights, and I’m also a fan of the four foot and eight footers, globes, etc. Think about the effect you want. The recessed lights cast light downward, and of course any surface mounted light will extend light in all directions. It sounds like this is a multipurpose room, so the four footers and eight footers will light up almost everything. However, I do agree with
@Curious Hound that if you have a specific work spot you want illuminated well, a can lamp overhead might work ideally. If you do that, take into account, the light path and shadows. You don’t want to light up a work counter perfectly, only to find that when you sit down, you are casting a shadow over what you’re trying to work on
Any long skinny light puts out great light to either side, but not necessarily out the ends. What about putting up four 4-foot lights in a wide square/rectangular pattern? Or a mix of a 4 foot and 8 foot. With or without individual switches, but working off one wall switch.
Do you know what “wire mold” is? Google it, it’s a surface mounted conduit so you don’t have to dig into the wall board. If you run it from light to light on the ceiling, who looks up? It will virtually disappear, and it’s attractive.
And remember you’re a youngster, I assume you’re planning on staying there a long time. When you get my age, there is no such thing as too much light!
A thought on your display shelves for the collection. Maybe instead of a flat level shelf, you may want to have the shelf slope from back to front, so if you have three light bars, you’ll be able to see all three of them without the ones in the front blocking the ones in the back. You can accomplish the same thing by putting the back one on top of 2 inch blocks, the one in the middle on 1 inch blocks, etc. You could also do that by making the shelves very shallow steps, but that’s a lot more work.
Another thought would be to actually make the shelf material a piece of clear plastic or glass. I’ve done that on several custom display areas (see below), some small and some pretty large. The light goes through the shelves so everything gets illuminated. If you’re careful how you place the items above, it allows light paths to highlight items below. And don’t be afraid of glass, but use the thicker glass, not the thin window sheets. They’re incredibly strong if you don’t rap on a single point. If you watch craigslist and marketplace, you can usually find fairly large sheets for very little money. If it’s not tempered glass (which you can’t cut without shattering it), it’s a fairly simple learning how to score it, and crack it with a glass cutter. Get a real glass cutter, always put kerosene on the tip. When you score the class, set it on a flat surface, so the scored edge is even with the edge of the flat surface, and gently press down on the piece that’s hanging over, and it will crack along the score line 99% of the time. You can use a medium grit sanding disk on a drill pad to take the sharp edges off, or straightened out of crooked corner and nobody would ever notice the sand marked (frosted) if it’s sitting in a wood frame. Always put a strip of felt where the glass contacts whatever, to eliminate point loads.
On displaying smaller items, again, you can put items further back on little wooden blocks, and maybe use a sheet of glass underneath them, or even a mirror. Think of a small table. The legs could even be very thin dowels or such, just do the ends with a drip of E 6000 glue or goop. The big bathroom mirrors are always free or cheap on craigslist or marketplace. Many times they’re just free to pick up.
And one last thought. If you’re going to be running all those blue code 3 lights, and playing those sirens in there, I don’t know how much time anybody would really stay in there nor how important the ceiling light(s) would be.
For these “floating“ shelves, I used regular old cheap steel hardware corner braces on the wall, upside down, that the shelves lay on. I glued a tiny little piece of felt on each one of them so there’s no sharp edges against the glass. I painted them with the wall paint the same color as the wall. They disappear.
It all looks great, you are an incredible craftsman.
Edit: FYI on craigslist
Welcome Visitor! Please take a few seconds and 
